A Game of Marbles
by Chustang
Summary: A case of puppy love goes terribly wrong, and it's Gene to the rescue.


A Game of Marbles A Game of Marbles   
By Chustang Sundust   


Melfina had fallen madly… into a spring case of puppy love. It was horrendous for those dark blue eyes to see her flashing her beautiful, chocolate colored eyes for someone else, and not him. It ate away at him, when his pride forced him to lock up the emotions he was bubbling over with, and smile for her. To say he was happy for her… Gene was wasting away that day and for hours on end now, he couldn't stop looking up at the clock.   
His steely blue eyes were sullen with a jealously he couldn't deny from burning deep in him. It was like biting on a cactus and still having to smile through all the blood. Recoil was an understatement. To bad for him, Gene had never been turned away from someone he'd really loved, but yet, he'd never been so hypnotized by one pair of eyes before. It seemed to him, that the wild horse he was riding was tiring, and the lone rider was looking back toward home. The outlaw, the lone wolf who was supposed to have no sentimental bonds to hold him back from surviving, was tied down and going down with the ship.   
And his name was Rue.   
It would have killed Gene to admit it, but maybe Melfina was right to hook up with him. Tall and lanky, the dark-skinned Italian was smooth talking, artistic, and romantic with a soft tone. Everything in him was totally devoted to her, and not an ounce, it seemed to him, had a free will beyond her face and her voice. Maybe they could turn the puppy love into something long term…   
He blinked. What was he saying?!?!   
Gene was ashamed by another aspect of her personality, which was snapping at him for the desperate and dullness washing over his thoughts: His determination. It was yelling at him, and he knew he was just telling himself off for thinking like that. All his life, he'd been told to be bold, a go-getter, and not to let his dreams slip from his fingers. And yet, this was like trying to grab hold of an electric eel; he was unsure of what it would be like and how much it would hurt if it ever ended. And once on, you weren't allowed to let go.   
But… He wasn't sure that… someone like Melfina would accept him in love with her, on account of her being an android. Gene knew that she'd been uncomfortable once she knew she was different from everybody else, and wasn't sure that she wasn't looking for someone of her own kind. Even Harry… had seemed to be more devoted to her than he was. Gene was sure he could be everything she wanted, if she could just unlock the door for him to rush in and sweep her off her feet. But he couldn't do that unless he was sure she wasn't in love with anybody else. Something about her made him forget all his toughness, and forget all the things he had rehearsed.   
He looked again, pacing impatiently beneath the clock, up to the seemingly frozen hands. They inched at a snail's pace, and a sickly on at that. His mind was so overflowing with thoughts, dreams, and emotions, that it was like a game of marbles. Everything crashing and getting faster. Keep going, he thought, and his head just might burst.   
Gene Starwind sighed deeply, abandoning the wait for eight o clock to roll around, and then walked sullenly up to continue brooding in his messy room. 

Her fingers were almost shaking too violently to pick up the cell phone, and she was almost too paranoid to reach out her arm, in fear of… him discovering her again. She cringed, in hiding, beneath a table that was surrounded by a party crowd for further concealment. After a few mistakes, her stumbling fingers finally punched in the number, and she bit her lip as it rang.   
And the receiver was picked up. 

Instantly, he was on top of that machine, and before it finished the first ring, he had snatched up the phone and pressed it to his ear. Too surprised, Gene didn't notice it had rung on his old-fashioned cell phone, but he had all the phones or ones even close to it on a table, watching them for a sign or a call. It didn't matter what phone, but it had rang. Breathless, he said, "Starwind and Hawking?"   
The voice seemed to freeze him in time. Hearing that strained voice frightened him to death, and after a speechless "Yes" and "Sure," the phone slipped from his numb fingers. 

The night air was tortured with the screeches of a madman driving. With dark blue eyes focused and intense on the faint glow of party lights and low drone of voices and music on the unfamiliar street, he just jammed down on the acceleration. Almost possessed, Gene cranked the old Ehefrau sharply around a corner, nearly flipping the classic red car over in his rush. With his hair whipping, he suddenly found himself speeding down the desired Auburn Drive, and the lights of Rue's house glaring bright on a dark streets. With the stars as a witness, Gene had sworn to give that jerk a lesson or two about fighting.   
He slammed down on the brakes, and the shrill shriek they emitted as the hover car came to a stop, spitting steam from its bottom, caught the attention of the kids on the porch. Gene looked them over and saw they were confused, probably heavily drunk, and they looked at each other, then down. He followed their gaze to a stop on the shivering body of Melfina.   
His heart just about stopped and shattered, seeing such a pitiful thing racking with sobs, and her pretty face buried into her hands. At his noisy stop, she snapped up her eyes to him, and the sight her face made a fuse pop deep in his fabric. Melfina's creamy white skin had turned a sore red, and her eye was ringed with dark blue and bloodshot from crying. Her voice was slurred and her eyes dark; it was apparent she'd been drinking. And she couldn't have helped it. Mel didn't know what drinking was, really. Crying and holding her misty brown eyes up long enough for them to focus, her face weakly lit up and the bioandroid staggered up from the porch step.   
Instantly, Gene swung himself over the side of the car and said, "Melfina, oh my god!" But he was cut off from his worry as she threw herself into his arms with no hesitation, and Gene instinctively held her to his shoulder, where she had wasted no time and began to hysterically cry. Still in shock, he was too surprised by her rush into his arms to think about Rue. In the doorway light, his eyes turned dark and bitter, before he turned away so Gene wouldn't' be reminded of the foul thing he'd done.   
The outlaw just sighed, seeing the drunken teens watching him curiously, and put his arm around her, stroking her hair and comforting her like a frightened kitten. It worked, and her racking sobs slowly subsided, and Melfina was soon resting against his broad shoulders in silence. Gene smiled, lifting her chin up to his gaze, and she thanked him silently. His rueful blue eyes glittered over a reassuring smile as he let her lean against him, walking back to Ehefrau.   
Once in the car, the bioandroid fell asleep against the warmth of her beloved true love, and remembered her last thought that night. Melfina had her head against his chest, laying her body across his lap as he gently massaged her back with one hand, and snuggled up against him. She could not remember being so happy in her life. It was Gene, after all, and not anybody else.   


End 


End file.
